The final component of our Greek Dinner is hummus. You can spell it how you like (I would put an “o” in there but it makes Firefox’s spell check unhappy), just as you can make it how you like. It annoys me to no end when people rave about store-bought hummus… it is so cheap and easy to make your own at home, whether you like it lemony, roasted red peppery, or garlicky! (Or something else entirely… chocolatey?) Here’s how it’s done.

Hummus

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 garlic cloves

1/4 cup tahini

Water or olive oil as needed

Salt and pepper to taste

The secret to super-creamy hummus is this! In a blender, puree the lemon juice, garlic cloves and tahini first! Yup, that’s all there is to it!

Once you’ve pureed those ingredients, slowly add in the chickpeas, keeping the blender’s motor running. You might need to add some liquid to keep things moving- try water or olive oil (obviously the latter will have way, way, way more calories).

Add salt and pepper to taste. I like to sprinkle my hummus with a bit of sumac, because it really adds to the lemony flavour (and it looks pretty!). You definitely don’t have to do this!

If you wanted to add something in, do it along with the chickpeas. Try some strips of roasted red pepper, or some fresh parsley or cilantro. You could replace the raw garlic with an entire head of roasted garlic! If you like olives, add some! What about sun-dried tomatoes? In Arabic “hummus” simply means “chickpeas” (they would refer to this recipe as “himmis bi tahina”, or chickpeas with tahini), but I think it’s okay to swap out the chickpeas for something else entirely (white cannellini beans, black beans, etc.) and still call it hummus!